Kukla's Korner Hockey

Andrew Shaw hasn’t forgotten the lessons he learned in his Belleville, Ont., upbringing, be it from the town’s working mentality — or his father’s putting him to work in the summers.

“I did all the brutal jobs, the jobs you pay a guy five dollars an hour to do,” Shaw told Pat Boyle. “As a kid I’d be carrying lumber, holding stuff in a pail. But I think it was good. It made me grow (into) who I am today.”

Shaw talked of his blue-collar upbringing and how it shaped him with Boyle for an Inside Look, which will air at 5 p.m. Thursday on CSNChicago. For Shaw, life in Belleville (pop. 49,500) had its fun and its hockey. It also had its work. His father, Doug, a contractor, made sure Andrew always had that put-the-work-in mentality, and it resonated through the years.

“I always saw my dad work extremely hard for me and my brothers to play hockey,” Shaw said. “Just (to) have the average job, punch in at 7 in the morning, they worked hard and I think it wore off on me. I saw what it takes to get by in this world and I've always push myself to work as hard as I could.”